Even as the Internet has made it easy for far-flung groups of people to collaborate, sometimes you still need to have a conversation. If your business regularly needs to conduct meetings with people in scattered locations, you'll probably need to set up a conferencing service. These conference calling services allow you to connect people together without investing in expensive equipment. Here are a few important points to remember as you shop for a conferencing service provider:

• Get people together virtually. Sales meetings, quarterly results reports for investors, and organizing multiple locations are all common reasons for a conference call. Also consider conference calling for employees who work from home, remote sales offices, freelancers and other vendors.
• Shop on service and price. Most conferencing services use equipment from the same leading manufacturers, so they are very similar in terms of quality and features.
• Reservationless or operator-assisted. Of these two major types of conferencing services, reservationless is less expensive and more popular. Operator-assisted conferencing is better suited for calls with dozens or even hundreds of participants, and offers more features. Signing up for reservationless conference calling gets you a permanent toll-free number you can dial in to at any time. You usually need to call at least a day in advance to set up an operator-assisted call.
• Tips for larger conference calls. To overcome potential headaches of managing a large call, consider these more structured formats: broadcasting, where most participants are muted and only designated people can speak; question and answer, where participants can signal via phone when they'd like to participate; or polling, where everyone on the call can press a button on their phone to vote on questions raised in the call.
• Try Web conferencing to display visuals. Many conferencing services also provide web conferencing, which allows you to share PowerPoint slides, web sites, or software demos through an Internet connection.
• Get your money's worth. If your conference calling volume is very high, some plans offer substantial volume discounts. However you should watch out for monthly minimums and long-term agreements that are sometimes required to get these discounts.
• Conferencing services are affordable. Conference calling is usually priced per minute, per person. A 6-person, 45 minute call will typically run about $125. Some services offer flat-rate monthly pricing, which can be a good deal if your calling volume is fairly high.
• Shop around. Don't feel compelled to use your existing long-distance or local service provider: specialized conferencing service providers can sometimes offer better deals.

• A conferencing service can help you better connect with customers, suppliers, and far-flung divisions of your own company - without investing in expensive telecom equipment.